For starters, the dining room is attached to a beach shop, where you can buy T-shirts and souvenirs of your visit to Topsail. Plus, the dining room is actually quite nice: cozy, intimate and almost elegant. Surprise number three? The food.

From the moment I walked in to the dining room at Beach Shop and Grill - purchased in 2002 by Jeff and Cheryl Price, the Topsail Beach landmark began as Warren's Soda Shop in 1952 - I felt at home. The hostess was warm and friendly, and rather than treating me like someone who'd never been in, she made me feel like a regular. Passing by the actual regulars at the bar and hearing their banter with the barkeep, I realized that friendliness is part of the culture here, a must at a restaurant in a tourist town. I hadn't even seen a menu and I already wanted to come back.

When my server arrived, she did so with a smile and more of that infectious hospitality. She took my drink order, gave me a couple of thoughts on the menu and disappeared to get my drink. When she came back, I'd settled on my appetizer, but not my main. We talked it over and her knowledge of the menu swayed me to her favorite pick, one I'd been eyeing from the start.

I tested the starters by ordering crab and artichoke dip with pita points, an appetizer that usually comes off one of two ways: the bland, crab-free amateur hour version, or the waxy, crab-free, store-bought amateur hour. This was neither. It was hot, rich and laced with both real crab and artichoke. The cheesy top was browned without being burnt and the pita points had been grilled crisp on one side, lending them a nice textural juxtaposition with the dip.

At most places, this dip is hard to spread and tends to seize up once you scoop it a time or two. Not here. This version spread easily and stayed hot throughout the whole of its stay on my table, which wasn't long. A little tart, a little briny, a little cheesy, this was the tastiest version of crab and artichoke dip I've eaten in the 11 years I've lived in Wilmington. (There only negative was the tiniest piece of shell that found its way in; I discovered it as I was spreading my next-to-the-last bite on a pita point.)

For my main, I ordered my server's favorite dish - shrimp and grits. I almost didn't because the grits are served as a fried grit "cake" rather than loose in the bowl and I've had some rock-hard grit cakes in the couple of years that this trend has been popular. But she convinced me. Well, her and the lobster cream sauce that she said added all the creaminess the grits needed.

She was right. The grit cake was a thick wedge of grits, crusty outside and moist and creamy inside, and it sat like an island in a sea of lobster cream, close to a dozen shrimp, Andouille sausage, Vidalia onions and green peppers.

On its own, the lobster cream was a little briny - not just salty, but that hearty brininess you get with house-made seafood stock - but with a fork of the grits dragged through it, the balance was there. Grabbing a shrimp, grits, some sauce and onion in one forkful created flavors that reminded me of the sea and earth that gave these ingredients to the chef, and when you added some Andouille to the mix, there was a spicy kick that tied it all together. It was a fantastic dish.

In looking at the menu, I was impressed by the specialty cocktails and beer list. The cocktails weren't the run-of-the-mill plays on martinis and margaritas; they were legit cocktails with some thought put into their composition. The beer had the expected domestics, but they weren't the stars. The emphasis was put on craft beer and a number of notable North Carolina breweries were represented.

After she bussed my empty entree plate, my server told me that they make their desserts in house and that the berry tart was going fast. I ordered a piece. Wow. The ideal balance between sweet and tart, the berries - blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries - were all sweet, flavorful and ripe, and I found the crust, which I expected would be either store-bought (despite my server's insistence that it wasn't) or bland, to be buttery, flaky and well-matched with the tart custard. Despite being full from the rest of my meal, I polished off every crumb.

Beach Shop and Grill also serves breakfast with the usual suspects of Southern staples, and lunch with light options as well as burgers, fish tacos and fish sandwiches. Dinner entrees included salads, hamburgers, a pair of nice-looking steaks and a burger that looked like it could feed two.

I can't wait to go back.

Features: 343-2343

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